Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 3
Calcium Orthophosphates
3.1
Introduction
Living organisms can create the amazing ways to produce various
high-performance materials and over 60 different inorganic
minerals of biological origin have already been revealed [1].
Among them, calcium orthophosphates are of a special importance
since they are the most important inorganic constituents of hard
tissues in vertebrates [2, 3]. In the form of a poor crystalline, non-
stoichiometric, ion-substituted CDHA (commonly referred to as
“biological apatite”), calcium orthophosphates are present in bones,
teeth, deer antlers, and tendons of mammals to give these organs
stability, hardness, and function [2, 4, 5]. Through we still do not
exactly know why the highly intelligent animals use conformable
calcium orthophosphates as their crucial biomineral for survival
[6], current biomedical questions of persistent pathological and
physiological mineralization in the body force people to focus on the
processes, including the occurrence, formation, and degradation of
calcium orthophosphates in living organisms [7-9].
Biological mineralization (or biomineralization) is a process of
in
vivo
formation of inorganic minerals [1, 2]. In the biomineralization
processes, organized assemblies of organic macromolecules regulate
nucleation, growth, morphology, and assembly of inorganic crystals.
Biologically formed calcium orthophosphates (biological apatite)
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